Jia Pingwa - Ruined City

Meng turned off the light, and they passed the night without another exchange.

. . .

On the twenty-second, Hong Jiang came with an account book to go over the revenue and expenses for the previous period. After checking, they realized they hadn’t lost money, but they hadn’t made much, either. Hong mentioned several items that needed to be taken care of, with the expectation that things would improve the following month. Then he brought out a bolt of light yellow silk from Hangzhou sprinkled with tiny pastel green flowers, two bottles of liquor from Sichuan, a package of swallows’ nests, and a carton of Japanese Seven Star cigarettes. “I spent several days in Xianyang during the Mid-Autumn Festival, Shimu,” he said with a broad smile. “I couldn’t make it here to wish you a happy holiday, so here I am today with these gifts. It’s not much, but I don’t think you need any more moon cakes, snacks, or canned goods. They’re nothing special. This package of swallows’ nests isn’t too shabby; it’s from a bookseller in Guizhou, a token of his gratitude after I helped him get a publication permit number at the beginning of the year, when he came to Xijing. A delicacy like this is too good for me, so I brought it over for Shifu, a good tonic for his health.”

“Why are you doing this?” Niu Yueqing said. “I don’t know anything about running a bookstore, and Zhuang Laoshi washes his hands of everything, even though he’s the nominal owner. We have to rely on you. We’ve never expressed our thanks, while you’re always giving us gifts on holidays. You’re like a brother now, so please don’t act like an outsider.”

“That’s not how it is. I do know a bit more about running a business, but without you two, I’d be out selling mutton skewers. These are not from me alone; someone else pitched in.”

“Who?” she asked. “It’s even worse to receive gifts from people you don’t know. Your Zhuang Laoshi can’t do anything but write. When friends like Meng Laoshi come, they help themselves to something to eat, which is a sign of friendship. Everyone else comes to ask Zhuang Laoshi for help. What can he do? And when he can’t do something, he complains about me.”

“There’s nothing you need to do. The man just wants to invite you to a meal.”

She took a look at the silk fabric, and saw a card embossed in gold. She opened it: “With the permission of the national marriage code, we have become husband and wife to share our happiness forever. To express our gratitude for your kindness and generosity over the years, we cordially invite you to a banquet to be held at ten in the morning of the twenty-eighth of this month.” In the host column were two names: Hong Jiang and Liu Xiaoka.

Stunned, Niu Yueqing let out a cry. “What’s going on, Hong Jiang? Don’t you have a wife and a child? When did you get a divorce? Who’s this Liu Xiaoka? When did this happen?”

“It’s a surprise, I know,” Hong said with a smile. “I didn’t want to bother you and Laoshi with this. In fact, I wanted to mention it several times, but changed my mind. The lawsuit had everyone on edge, so I decided to keep it quiet. You know my former wife and I were always fighting. We simply couldn’t get along and didn’t have a day of peace together. So we said to each other, ‘Let’s split up,’ and we did. I thought I’d be a bachelor again after the divorce, but my friends said I’d ruin my health running around taking care of the business if I didn’t get married. I might even become a different person. Besides, those who didn’t know might even say I had physical issues that caused my wife to divorce me. And they mentioned the girl we hired at the bookstore. I thought it over and decided it wasn’t a bad idea. Since she works there, we could look after one another, so we went ahead and filed our marriage registration. Luckily she’s an only child with a house, so you can say I married up. We went to see her grandmother over the holiday. Her uncle, who works in Sichuan, brought these two bottles of liquor for us. Xiaoka insisted that we give them to you. I know you can’t drink hard liquor, but you must try this.”

“Liu Xiaoka?” Niu Yueqing said. “I can’t tell the three girls at the bookstore apart.”

“I know which one it is,” Liu Yue, who was smiling the whole time, cut in. “The slender one with sloping shoulders, isn’t it?” She stroked a finger on her face to shame Hong, who replied with a smile, “You’re so wrong, Liu Yue. It’s the tall, long-legged one.”

“A new girl!” Liu shouted.

“Stop the nonsense, Liu Yue,” Niu Yueqing said. “You don’t know anything. They’re all pretty, and I can’t tell who’s who. I must congratulate you, now that you went ahead and got married. But I’m not happy that you kept us in the dark about something so important.”

“That’s why you’re the first to get the invitation. You have to come, no matter what. Liu Yue, too. You can be a bridesmaid.”

“I’m not going,” she said with a pout. “I’m not going to be the bridesmaid, either. I know you want ugly me there to highlight your beautiful bride.”

Hong complimented Liu Yue on how articulate she’d gotten after only a few months in the Zhuang household. She might even be a writer one day. They chatted for a while before he got up to leave, repeating his request for them to attend the banquet. “It won’t start until Laoshi and Shimu are there.”

“Where is Zhuang Laoshi?” Niu Yueqing asked after Hong left. Liu Yue said Meng had invited him for a drink. After putting the gifts away, Niu Yueqing sat down to think about what kind of wedding presents they’d take to the banquet. In the afternoon, an inebriated Zhuang returned and went to the toilet, where he stuck his finger down his throat and threw up. Niu Yueqing told him to get some rest, without mentioning Hong’s marriage. Later that night, when Zhuang got up to read in the study, she went in, closed the door, and told him.

“The girl with the long legs?” Zhuang was equally dumbfounded. “I don’t think I’ve seen her more than twice. I didn’t pay much attention when he asked to hire some salesgirls. Later Zhao Jingwu told me that Hong’s standards are higher than you’d find for a model. He detailed the required height, weight, and skin condition, as well as their BWH measurements.”

“What’s BWH?”

“Bust, waist, and hips. So he was already thinking about finding someone for himself.”

“With his sallow skin and puffy face, how did he manage to get remarried so easily after the divorce? What did the girl see in him?” Niu Yueqing wondered.

“Young people these days don’t think twice about getting a brand-new family. You’re too old-fashioned to understand that.”

“His first wife wasn’t very refined, but she seemed trustworthy. The saying has it that one day as husband and wife portends a lifetime of affection. How could it end so abruptly? I can’t understand it. But it’s none of our business, so why worry about it? What concerns me is the bookstore. Won’t the two of them run it from now on?”

“We certainly can’t fire the girl. Maybe you should drop by to check things out more frequently and make sure the accounts are in order. But don’t let on what you’re up to. He may be sincere and aboveboard, and we don’t want to offend him. No matter what we think about the marriage, you should send wedding gifts, and not something cheap.”

Niu Yueqing took out a sheet of paper. “Let’s draw up a list.”

“Can’t you handle it? Why bother me with that?” Zhuang said impatiently. She swallowed hard before walking out without a word.

She went out the next day and bought a bedspread, a coffee maker, and a set of cups. Later that night she went to her mother’s place to find an iron she had left there, a gift to Zhuang from a factory where he’d given a lecture. It had never been used, so she decided to add it to the list of wedding gifts. Her mother recommended a chamber pot, saying it was the most important item, an indispensable object in a bride’s dowry in the old days. But these days people didn’t follow the rules, she told her, so the bride’s family would not include one, and friends and relatives never gave one as a gift. Niu Yueqing thought an enamel spittoon to be used as a chamber pot would indeed be an ingenious gift. People often said that so-and-so could piss in the same pot with someone else. A chamber pot was important to the older generation because it symbolized lifelong affection between husband and wife. But she knew that no one sold spittoons in the mall these days, since someone from her office had failed to find one after going to every shopping center in town; it ultimately would have to be purchased at the ghost market outside the west gate.